I was rather beguiled at first by President Obama’s commencement speech at West Point. Not just because everybody else dumped all over it, and I wanted to exercise my contrarian’s prerogative to defend the indefensible. It’s because the central premise—what I call the Obama Doctrine—is rather attractive to me: President Obama’s unwillingness to employ military... Read More

Uh-oh. Looks like things are getting somewhat Ides-of-Marchy within the Obama administration. I think the coterie of Hillary Clinton supporters and enthusiasts have something to do with it. From today’s LA Times: I should say I’m pretty much on board with President Obama’s hesitations about using military force, which I would gloss as “Don’t use... Read More

I should address President Obama’s explicit statement in Japan that the Senkakus were covered by the US-Japan Security Treaty. Nothing particularly new here; Secretary of State Clinton affirmed coverage in 2010 and I think it’s been reaffirmed incessantly since then. Now, if President Obama had declared that the US regarded the Senkakus as Japanese sovereign... Read More

I try to eschew dramatic, click-baiting headlines, but I think current developments in Asia are a big deal.�� President Obama is visiting Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. He’s not visiting the People’s Republic of China.� He never planned to, because this trip is meant as an exercise in pivot-love, the bromance of... Read More

[I got my Defcons flipflopped in the original post.� Herewith corrected.� According to Wikipedia, the US military has only gone to Defcon 2 once, for the Cuban Missile Crisis.� Even 9/11 was only Defcon 3.� The different levels also have catchy descriptions, like "Cocked Pistol" and "Double Take", that are used during exercises.� So if... Read More

Update: Consider this can of worms officially closed! Do not open! The United States on Wednesday rejected a call by North Korea for a new investigation of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March that Seoul blames on Pyongyang. The U.S. said the findings of a South Korean inquiry that attributes the attack... Read More